


Technological Feelings

by nahemaraxe (zephyrina)



Category: Almost Human, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Detective Sam, M/M, android Gabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 17:10:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1865787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephyrina/pseuds/nahemaraxe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sex with a synthetic is great, but Sam never thought he'd end up caring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Technological Feelings

“Care to tell me how you managed to do this?”

Sam’s aware of how harsh he sounds, but he can’t bring himself to care. Not now, not when he’s elbow deep in Gabriel’s blood. The fact that it’s synthetic blood and that Gabriel can survive without a single drop left in his body is irrelevant.

“So?” he asks after a couple of beats, when it becomes clear that Gabriel has no intention to answer. “What the hell happened? You wrestled with a bear? Lost a round with Wolverine?”

Silence stretches again, and it’s so heavy it’s almost like a physical presence between them. As Sam works, wiping blood away from Gabriel’s back and patching skin up with gauze and medical tape, he finds himself reminiscing the old times, when they were on a late night patrol and the pauses in the conversation grew. Back then, the silence was often easy, companionable. Now it’s not.

Right when Sam is about to give up, Gabriel speaks. He still has that lollipop stick hanging from the corner of his mouth, so his voice sounds a bit weird. “No mutants, bucko, just a tug-o-war with barbed wire,” he says. “I fought valiantly, but it won. Better luck next time.”

“Are you serious?”

“‘Course I am. If being cut to ribbons turned me on, you’d be the first to know.”

Trust Gabriel to turn everything into a sex joke. Sam shakes his head; it’s a clipped gesture, and if he pokes at Gabriel’s shoulder blade a little harder than what’s necessary, well, tough.

The thing is, there’s just a place in town that’s surrounded with enough barbed wire to do such a number on him and okay, Gabriel is a NVK, but he can be killed just as much as anyone else. He  _will_  be killed if he keeps sneaking past the Wall to steal food. This side of town is not synthetic friendly, but over there people took unfriendliness to a whole new level. They’re better stocked, sure, and they’re also dead set against android technology. They hunt androids down. If someone blows a hole in Gabriel’s chest and short-circuits enough nanoprocessors, Sam won’t be able to do anything about it. He won’t even know until it’s too late, because Sam is an ex-detective with a fake leg that doesn’t work as it should. He’s stuck in that room until Gabriel finds the right spare parts, and he’s - well - useless. He couldn’t save Ash during the ambush; he won’t save Gabriel from being lynched. It’s just a matter of time.

That statement rings so true it makes bile rise in his throat. Damn.

Sam tightens the bandages around Gabriel’s back before tossing the medical tape aside. “I’m done. Get dressed.”

“What, just like that? No ‘thank you for providing food and water, you’re really awesome’ sex?”

“Just like that, yeah.”

“Suck all the fun out of life, will you?” Gabriel says while turning around. He tucks the lollipop stick behind his ear, and the circuits of his cheek flash violet. Sam’s come to learn that that’s Gabriel’s equivalent of ‘come hither, you sexy beast’. Jesus Christ. He really doesn’t get it, does he?

“Stop it. I’m not in the mood.”

“Sammy…”

“No.”

“ _Sam_.” Gabriel shakes his head, and another circuit flashes. It’s regular blue this time. “You’re pissed, okay. I get it. But I’m fine. Look at me.” He spreads his arms wide, waggling his fingers. “NVK, remember? Synthetic skin, synthetic flesh, synthetic everything. What’s with the bitchface and the tantrum now? We both know I’ll heal.”

“It’s not about healing… Jesus, Gabe, it’s not. It’s about me—” Sam pauses long enough to raise a finger, “—me not liking to see you in pain. Unless the whole ‘NVKs can feel’ spiel you gave me for months was a ploy to get in my pants, I mean.”

That earns him a snort, but Gabriel doesn’t say anything. Rather, he watches Sam raise a second finger, looking quite interested.

“ _And_  it’s also about me not wanting to scrape you off any sidewalk. Your file says you’ve been terminated, you can’t just… hop over the Wall and hope for the best.” Sam grimaces. “This is Agent Undercover 101 material. I can’t—”

“Holy shit, you’re serious. You care,” Gabriel says, interrupting him. It’s a statement, and it’s delivered as such. There’s no bite, no snark, no mock behind it. It’s just there, a fact standing between them. And Gabriel is wearing such a open, honest expression that Sam’s automatic reaction - ‘sure thing, G’ - dies on his tongue.

There are a bunch of things Sam could say now, from blaming the police department for partnering him with a discontinued android to not wanting to lose another partner after Ash. He goes for a shrug instead.

“Just don’t get yourself killed, okay? Not to bring me food or whatever. You get me?”

He’s pointedly staring at the wall, so he misses Gabriel reaching forward to cover Sam’s hand with his own. It’s smaller than Sam’s, but it feels warm and calloused in the right places. Gabriel’s thumb finds the pulse point in his wrist, presses it, strokes it. They’ve been having sex since last April, six months ago, but this is the most intimate thing that has ever passed between them.

“Gabe?” Sam clears his throat and doesn’t pull back when Gabriel kisses the corner of his mouth. “You get me?”

“Yes. Yes, I do,” Gabriel nods, smiling a little. “I got you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sabrielation challenge on Tumblr, prompt 'Technology'. I twisted a little the AH canon, and the setting is post-apocalyptic.
> 
> Many thanks to Valentina for holding my hand and reading it over.


End file.
